Are You Challenging Me?

Some of you mentioned to me that my blog was having issues with the “like” button. Nothing like some technical issues to welcome me back. 😉 I contacted the Happiness Engineers and they got me all fixed up. Now you can like away!

I wanted to share a few July challenges with you in case you are interested in participating in them.

First, did you know that it’s Plastic Free July? You can read more about the global movement here. But a quick overview is that it is a drive to reduce single-use plastics during the month of July. If you’ve been around my blog for a while, then you know that the first month of my year of “this is 40” monthly challenges was about single-use plastic. Here’s the post about that plastic-free month.

I know that we often hear about the evils of plastics and how only 6-9% of it truly gets recycled and tons of it ends up in our waterways and in the bellies of sea creatures. I’m aware that many places are stepping up their game and reducing single-use plastics but we can all add to that with our choices.

Second, if you are a fan of minimalism or just want to have a little push in decluttering, The Minimalists are doing a challenge. You can read more about it over on Rebecca’s, Minimalism My Way, blog. Apparently, there’s an entire community on Twitter that is participating. I have recently done quite a bit of purging and am not sure I’ll be joining in fully…but I do love a good challenge.

In keeping with the compounding daily theme, I threw out expired grocery store coupons on day one. On day two, I threw out an old pair of socks (funny story there) and some junk mail. Today, I’ll be shredding some check books from an account I no longer have and I’ve deleted some unnecessary files from my computer, so that more than covers three. I’m traveling to the beach later in the month (yes, again) so I will be counting extra removals for those later dates.

Oh, you want to know the funny story about the socks? Well, even if not…

A teen child of mine had an extra set of socks in the back floorboard of their car some time ago. And by some time ago, probably 6 months to a year ago. After a hiking excursion, a water bottle spilled on the said floorboard and the pair of socks were saturated. They spent the next segment of their life on the floor of the garage near the shoes people wear to mow the yard. I finally picked them up and placed them on the stair railing that leads from the garage to the house. I wanted to make sure they didn’t have creatures from the garage living in them before bringing them inside.

And there they sat…for months…until yesterday…when I decided to throw them out. Now you may be thinking that throwing them out was wasteful. However, I know based on the brand of socks (because I buy all the socks) that these are anywhere from 3-5 year old socks. They’ve served their purpose. And it’s likely that if I’d taken the time to unroll the crusty, formerly waterlogged pair of socks that the heels would have been ripped and the elastic wearing out.

Now, on to the third challenge. Also as part of my “this is 40” year of monthly challenges, I spent a month meditating daily and wrote about that as well. For the first three weeks of that challenge, I participated in a 21-day challenge led by Light Watkins. There is another meditation challenge starting on July 15th. This one is led by Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey. If this is something that you’re interested in, you can find the sign-up at this link.

So those are some of the challenges that I’m aware of that are taking place during the month of July. Did any of them catch your fancy? Do you know about any others that are just so intriguing that you want to share them?

To all of my readers in the USA, I hope that you have a wonderful and safe 4th of July celebration. Do you have any big plans? I’m not sure what we’ll be doing yet (it’ll probably involve food), but both of my sons have to work in the evening.

To all of the rest of you readers around the world who won’t be celebrating Independence Day tomorrow, I hope that you have a fabulous 4th of July.

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19 thoughts on “Are You Challenging Me?”

Thank you so much for mentioning me! That was such a surprise. Honored to make it on your post. 💕🌟

I’m going to consider the meditation challenge. I’ll have to go read about it. I recently began using an app for guided meditation as a way to help me relax. It really works! I find it difficult to quiet my mind, but it gets easier every time.

I would have thrown away the socks from the start. Since purging and downsizing for our big move I’ve been making a conscience effort to not add more stuff! I’m shredding junk mail, and papers straight-away and not letting that pile up on the shredder, and I cleaned up some computer files that pertained to the old house that I will no longer be using. That feels better when opening that folder to have it more lean and not show all the old house stuff.

I have a bunch of stuff in my Amazon cart that I just looked at before reading your post.Timely eh! I closed my Amazon store to come read blogs to give me time to think about the stuff in the cart. I don’t “need” some of it, but would love to have them, but clutter and stuff! Yeah, I don’t want to go there again! My cart will be getting a clean out too me thinks.

We’re having dinner with #1 Grandson’s Paternal Grandparents ( yes, they live in the same town!) then we’re all going to hill not far from our house to watch the fireworks together. I hope to take photos of them too.

I hope your week-end is wonderful, and know I’m with you in spirit on the decluttering thing!
My desk seems to get cluttered up in minutes no matter how many times a day I straighten it out. I’m still a paper gal, but I’m shredding more!

It seems like I’m constantly in a purge cycle and I just never seem to get ahead on it. Now however I feel like I want to double my efforts 🙂 The good news is that my oldest son just moved into a new home and finally collected a table he had been storing in our basement. Yay for small victories 🙂

I actually love the sound of all those challenges Amy. Going plastic free is something that I’ve been a big supporter of for a long time. Minimalism too is another big issue, in fact only yesterday I did a big cull of lots of old paperwork. As for meditating, that’s something that I’ve been a bit lax with lately but I intend to get back into it. Thanks for this post Amy. Take care and stay happy ❤️🙏

I’m glad to see that there are more and more movements to reduce plastics. My son works at a restaurant where they only offer paper straws. And I’ve seen other places working hard to reduce single-use plastic. I definitely feel the difference when I clear out clutter. I’m working hard at stopping the creep of it back into my life. lol. My meditation commitment goes up and down and I’d really like it to become steady, which is why I think these challenges help me. I hope that you have a beautiful day, Miriam!

I’m glad you’re purging 🙂 Purging is the best!
They’ve moved to paper straws in a lot of places here, and I’m getting used to it. Saw some at the shop yesterday, and I suppose when mine run out, I will transition. I’d love to use the stainless, but I fear injury as I am a klutz.
I am not a minimalist, unless you compare me to people who clutter. I do enjoy clear surfaces. Since the boy has moved in, and the girls are home for summer, I basically mourn my lost surfaces. It’s petty and sad. I am a sad and petty woman. But that’s real 😉

Purging is so great!! I feel so much better with less clutter. The restaurant my son works in uses paper straws. At one place we went to in Cocoa Beach, they used pasta straws! I have some stainless, but I rarely use straws at home.
I’m not sure I’m a minimalist in some versions of the definition but I do like clear surfaces and open spaces. I am down a child but with my youngest at home for the summer, I still am losing surfaces so I completely understand!

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The Face Behind the Words

Hey there. I'm Amy.
I'm a wife and a mother of two teens and one young adult.
In my earlier years of motherhood, I helped my children pursue their passions. Now I've started focusing on discovering some of my own passions. Travel and photography finding their way to the top. At Bedlam & Daisies, I seek to share with you the beauty that I find in the midst of chaos. I hope you'll come along on this journey of discovery with me.